Box Score - South Alabama 72, Troy 62 (.pdf)

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MOBILE, Ala. – Trailing by 10 midway through the second half, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team used a 20-2 run as it rallied back to capture a 72-62 victory over Troy Wednesday evening at the Mitchell Center.  With the win, South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri picked up his 183rd career victory at the collegiate level to become the program’s all-time winningest coach.

“Being in the position of becoming the all-time winningest coach here, you can’t have done this without contributions from some fine young women who have been in this program for the past ten plus years,” Pietri said of the win.  “You also have to have had some fine assistant coaches, trainers and managers. As a head coach, you can’t do it without a whole lot of help. I’ve had a tremendous amount of help, starting with the female student-athletes who have put their blood, sweat and tears into this program.”

The victory also marked the first time that USA has come back to win a game when trailing at the break in 10 tries.

“We just have not fought back when we’ve been behind and that’s bothered me,” Pietri added.  “Tonight, we finally did it. We finally just reached down deep inside ourselves when things weren’t going well and we just pulled it out. I told them in the locker room that, with the limited amount of time we have in the season, we know we can do it. We can draw from this experience and know we can do it, should we have to again.”

USA (14-10, 6-6 SBC) will return to action eight days from now when the Lady Jags travel to take on North Texas on Thursday, Feb. 17.  Tip-off versus the Mean Green is set for 5:05 p.m. at the Super Pit.

For the first time since the Southern Miss game on (Nov. 16), South Alabama placed five players in double figures led by Christian Shelter’s 15 points.  Shelter who had struggled throughout much of the game, was key during the pivotal run.  Taylor Ammons just missed out on a double-double with a 12 point, eight rebound effort.  Ammons also came up big during the Jaguar run, recording eight of her 12 points.  Siedah Banks had another solid night with 13 points – her fourth-straight game in double figures – eight rebounds and six assists.  Sarda Peterson (12) and Lauren Walker (10) were the other two Lady Jags to get into double digits.

Troy was led by Donette McNair’s 18 points and eight rebounds, while Tenia Manuel chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds of her own.  Sophie Kleeman – who had all 12 of her points in the first half – did not take a shot in the final period of play after going 4-for-4 from the three-point line in the first half.

One key stat for the Lady Jags was in the points in the paint category.  Earlier this season, the Trojans held a 40-14 advantage in that category, but in Wednesday’s victory, South Alabama outscored Troy 34-18 in the paint.

USA was 15-of-20 at the charity stripe, including 12-of-15 in the second half.

Trailing by three just a minute into the contest, South Alabama grabbed its first lead of the evening after rattling off seven-straight points.  Ammons got the scoring started with a jumper in the lane at the 17:55 mark and on USA’s next possession, Peterson knocked down a deep trey from the right wing to put the Jags out in front.  After missing a three-pointer of her own, Brittney Rutledge followed her own shot and deflected a Trojan outlet pass underneath the basket for a layup with 16 minutes, 39 seconds on the clock.

After hitting three of their first six attempts, the Lady Jags went cold over the seven minutes, converting on just one of their next nine shots.  During that time, the Trojans took advantage of the offensive drought.  Kleeman began a 12-2 run for Troy with her second three-pointer of the evening.  Dominique Ross came off the bench and provided six points of her own during the scoring spurt, including a jumper at the 11:01 mark to cap off the scoring and give Troy a 17-11 lead.

USA again came right back and pulled within one (19-18) after Lauren Walker’s trey from the left wing with less than seven minutes remaining before the intermission.  Walker led all scorers for South Alabama in the first half with eight points.

The Trojans didn’t allow the Lady Jags to chip any further into their lead as they came right back with an 11-2 run to take their largest lead of the period at 30-20.  Brooke Bowie drained a three-pointer of her own to begin the scoring for Troy and McNair gave the Trojans the 10-point advantage when the senior forward grabbed an offensive rebound and laid the ball off the glass with less than four minutes on the clock.  McNair was fouled on the play and coming out of a media time out, hit the free throw to convert the conventional three-point play.  The board was her third of the contest and with it she became the program’s all-time rebounding leader at the Division I level. 

South Alabama narrowed the deficit to 34-30 with just under a minute to play in the period when Banks drove the right side of the lane and was fouled.  The senior point guard hit her free throw attempt to pull USA to within four, but on Troy’s ensuing possession, it was Kleeman who came up big for the Trojans as she drained her fourth long-range shot of the half to send the visitors into the locker room with the 37-30 lead.  Kleeman led all scorers in the first stanza with 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the arc.

The 37 points allowed to the Trojans in the first half marked the most surrendered by the Lady Jags at home since giving up 40 to Middle Tennessee on Jan. 2.

South Alabama began the second half with a much better defensive effort holding the Trojans without a point over the first four-and-a-half minutes.  Riding the defense, USA was able to narrow the deficit to one as it opened the period on an 8-2 run.  The Lady Jags – who had recorded just three offensive rebounds in the first period of play – took advantage of their second chance opportunities during the run.  Christian Shelter got things started with an offensive put back and Brittney Rutledge capped the scoring off with a second-chance basket of her own to cut the deficit to 39-38.

Still leading by two (42-40) with 13 minutes remaining in the game, Troy quickly extended its lead back out to double figures with eight unanswered points.  McNair gave the Trojans the 50-40 lead when she grabbed another rebound and put the ball back in the basket a little over two minutes later.

That is when Shelter and Ammons took over and spurred the game-changing run for the Lady Jags.  The duo teamed up to record the first eight points of the spurt.  Following a Trojan miss, Banks found Ammons open under the basket for a layup.  Ammons was fouled on the play and converted the bonus shot to pull USA within four (52-48) with eight minutes, 21 seconds on the clock.  The foul was key for the Trojans as it was McNairs fourth, sending the senior to the bench.  On the ensuing possession for Troy, Banks stole the ball on the inbounds and fed it to Walker for an easy layup.  On USA’s next trip down the floor, Shelter knocked down a turn-around jumper in the lane to tie the contest back up at 52 and with just over six minutes remaining, Ammons calmly sank two more free throws to give South Alabama its first lead since early in the first half.

The Lady Jags capped off the run a minute-and-a-half later on an off-balance spinning layup by Peterson to go out in front, 68-60.

Troy mounted final charge, pulling to within three (60-57) on a deep three-pointer from Brooke Bowie with just over three minutes to go, but Shelter came right back down the floor and answered with a trey of her own to end the threat.  Including the Shelter bucket, USA closed out the contest with a 12-5 run to capture the 10-point victory.  

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).